“I do think the speeding-up of our culture makes people like the old format of that instant satisfaction,” Mr. Phillip Leeds said about the affection for Polaroid film.
Phillip Leeds, former tour manager of Kelis and N.E.R.D., is soon to drop a new book entitled, Big Shots, of polaroid photos that capture the energy of the world of hip-hop and the greater worlds of music and fashion alike.
While Leeds was tour managing for N*E*R*D and Pharrell, he traveled with cameras. He had a Pelican case of twin-lens reflex and an SLR, but never traveled with his Bg Shot polaroid just because it was so huge. So he started taking pictures with it at his house. After he stopped touring in '06-'07, and started working at Billionaire Boys Club, he kept the camera at his office, where people would come through to get clothes and he would just snap pictures. He wasn’t trying to do anything and his subject matter inevitably turned into a lot of celebrity and New York cool people.
Big Shots is a compilation of previously unpublished work documenting some of the biggest names in hip-hop and fashion. Leeds' collection of Polaroid portraits — more than 250 of artists and figures including Mos Def, Jay Z, Tyler the Creator, Quest-love, and Rita Ora — has effectively grown to capture an important moment in music and fashion.
